Quotes by Taisen Deshimaru

“Most women go through life looking for love, and looking for someone to treat them like a queen. For some women finding real love seems to be something that will never happen. I believe that findin...”

“To receive everything, one must open ones hands and give.”

“If you are not happy here and now you never will be.”

“Time is not a line but a series of now-points.”

“Think with your whole body.”

“To receive everything, one must open one’s hands and give.”

“If you are not happy here and now you never will be.”

“Time is not a line but a series of now-points.”

“Keep your hands open, and all the sands of the desert can pass through them. Close them, and all you can feel is a bit of grit.”

“Train the body and develop stamina and endurance. But the spirit of competition and power that presides over them is not good, it reflects a distorted vision of life. The root of the martial arts i...”

“You must concentrate upon and consecrate yourself wholly to each day, as though a fire were raging in your hair.”

“You have to practice until you die.”

“Zen is not a particular state but the normal state: silent, peaceful, unagitated. In Zazen neither intention, analysis, specific effort nor imagination take place. It's enough just to be without hy...”

“If you have a glass full of liquid you can discourse forever on its qualities, discuss whether it is cold, warm, whether it is really and truly composed of H-2-O, or even mineral water, or saki. Me...”

“Harmonizing opposites by going back to their source is the distinctive quality of the Zen attitude, the Middle Way: embracing contradictions, making a synthesis of them, achieving balance.”

“We feel our shell keeps us safe, but it crushes us and others, and keeps out light and sun.”

“You must not take out your sword because if you try to kill someone, you must die for it yourself. What you must do instead is kill yourself, kill your own mind.”

“You are the strongest and the others keep their distance. It is no longer necessary to win victories over them.”

“To receive everything, one must open one's hands and give.”

“If you are not happy here and now, you never will be.”